Huancavelica to Licapa (Libertadores Highway) – Peru’s Great Divide

This is an interesting way of getting from the lovely town of Huancavelica to the paved highway which links the coast and Ayacucho. Begin with the climb to Abra Chonta, then continue a few kilometres to Abra Huayraccasa, a high pass which is often (wrongly) marked on maps as being the highest in the Americas.

The area around Huayraccasa is mining country, so expect to see some trucks and 4x4s as you continue over Punta Caudalosa Chica, and over two more passes either side of Mina Esperanza, before descending to Licapa.

Bring all supplies from Huancavelica as there are no shops until Ccollpapata, just before Licapa. Water is not a problem to find however.

The unpaved sections of this route can become so muddy as to be impassable after rain, so it’s unlikely you’ll be able to go this way between October and April. If it’s not possible to get over Punta Caudalosa Chica, try descending from Abra Huayraccasa to Huachocolpa, then climbing up past Recuperada and on to Mina Esperanza.

Another good alternative if you like high passes is to climb from Huancavelica, over Abra Chonta, Abra Huayraccasa and Punta Caudalosa Chica, then leave the route described here soon after by heading west, over Punta Yahuarcocha, before descending to the paving and Santa Ines.

As usual it Peru, it pays to go light. Here’s a packing list of the 15kg of kit we each took for the ride, and here’s the blog post on Pikes on Bikes about our (muddy) October ride.

Distance (km)

Altitude (m)

Description

0

3700

Huancavelica Plaza de Armas. (La Portada is a good place to stay.) Take road towards Abra Chonta and Santa Ines.

35.2

4510

Astobamba. Small village no facilities.

45

4610

Pucapampa. Small village, no facilities. Easy climb to pass, all paved.

as the weather looked really bad and we also got into a snowstorm we sticked to the pavement.

After abra chonta theres up and down till Santa Ines )restaurant , shops, hospedaje) . About 14 km before santa Ines you pass another village that also has a shop
After Santa Ines there same 2 houses villages that have dogs that will chase you but its a gentle nice downhill till you hit the main Ayacucho road.
Theres not a lot of Trafic and kind of a shoulder. Its still 20 km to Licapa uphill with a part that goes down for 4 km or so.
But all in all easy to ride , took us 1.5 days to Licapa

thanks for your detailed descriptions about Perus Great Divide. This route really exceeded all my expectations about cycling in Peru. I have been there in June and July this year. I started in Chimbote and from Conococha I followed your route until Licapa.

I just wanted to give a little bit more informations about the route from Huancavelica to Licapa. Altough it was dry season, there have been rainshowers every evening and the Abra Huayraccasa and Paso Esperanza have been quite muddy. Another problem was Punta Caudalosa Chica. Because of some previous heavy rain, the road was destroyed (some small landslides and the road was covered by loose gravel). It was only possible to climb there with a lot of pushing and at this time it was not possible to climb there by car.